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Many years ago I had an AOS Goliath mount with 8" f/7 Newtonian on it, big heavy beastie. The steel tripod under the mount was the weakest (flimsiest) part and I ditched that and made a very successful tripod out of Karri floorboards - think Jarrah or redgum.
Each leg was two boards edge to edge at a 60 degree angle (I had planed the edges to fit) - glued with epoxy and screwed with marine (monel bronze) screws, and assembled so that the complete tripod resembled the edges of a tetrahedron.
It turned out utterly, utterly rigid and lighter than the steel tripod, and it had the advantage of damping vibration much better than the steel one which twanged like a spring.
I wouldn't use softwood, and I wouldn't use Tassie Oak (victorian ash) as while strong that is also very springy.
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